Professional Development Opportunities as of 8/24/05

eLearning Web Site Offers Free Professional Development for Teachers
U. S. Department of Education (CPE#500922)
Teacher2Teacher Workshops

Teachers can access free professional development at the U.S. Department of Education's eLearning professional development Web site for teachers.  Through the site, www.paec.org/teacher2teacher/, teachers can receive free professional development on a wide variety of courses that focus on improving their content knowledge and teaching skills in reading, math, and science.  Courses are also offered on such topics as No Child Left Behind, effectively using data, and standards-based education. 

Twenty-one eLearning courses are now available, including the following:

English/Language Arts:

Beginning to Write
Building Fluency: Do It Well and Do It Right
Examining Student Work: A Protocol for Improving Reading
Feedback: A Powerful Tool for Raising Student Achievement in Language Arts
Looking at Vocabulary
Monitoring Comprehension
Phonemic Awareness
Phonics: The Building Blocks of Early Reading
Reading in the Content Areas: It's Just Different

Math/Science

Developing Computational Fluency in Addition and Subtraction
Early Steps Count: Teaching Arithmetic to Prepare Students for Algebra
Feedback: A Powerful Tool for Raising Student Achievement in Mathematics
Measurement and Geometry: Building Conceptual Understanding in Young Children
Patterns to Symbols: Algebra
Standards-Based Differentiated Math
Taking the "Dense" Out of Density
Using Technology to Enhance Algebra Instruction

Additional Subjects

Building Teacher Leaders
Differentiated Instruction
Exciting Teachers and Improving Student Achievement With Standards-Based Data
No Child Left Behind Basics
Standards-Based Education and Student Report Cards
Turning Data Into Information
Monitoring Comprehension
Phonics: The Building Blocks of Early Reading
Feedback: A Powerful Tool for Raising Student Achievement

The eLearning professional development Web site is part of the U.S. Department of Education's Teacher-to-Teacher Initiative, which also supports teachers through workshops, email updates, and the American Stars in Teaching recognition project.  For more information, visit the Teacher-to-Teacher Initiative website at: www.ed.gov/teacherinitiative.

Concept to Classroom (CPE# 500938)

The site features a series of FREE, self-paced workshops covering a wide variety of hot topics in education. Some of the workshops are based in theory, some are based in methodology - but all of the workshops include plenty of tips and strategies for making classrooms work. Access the workshops at the link below. These workshops can apply toward professional development credit. http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/index.html

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS

After-School Programs - From Vision to Reality
Synopsis - In recent years, parents, policy-makers and organizations have begun to focus on developing afterschool programs. In this workshop, we look at the benefits that a quality afterschool program can provide to students, their families, and the community. Participants will examine different ways to create effective afterschool programs and will be directed through a step-by-step guide to create programs that address the physical, emotional, academic and social needs of children. The workshop was developed in concert with three leaders in the afterschool field: An-Me Chung, program officer at the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation; Ellen Gannett, Associate Director of the National Institute on Out-of-School Time at the Center for Research on Women at Wellesley College; and Adriana de Kanter La Perla, the Department of Education's liaison to the C.S. Mott Foundation.

Assessment, Evaluation, and Curriculum Redesign
Synopsis - How do you know how students are learning? What is happening in a child's mind when he or she learns? How does an educator know that a strategy is effective? Should we continue to use traditional tests (such as multiple choice) to assess what students have learned? In this workshop, we explore alternative avenues of assessing student work -- such as digital portfolios and performance-based tests -- to find out which assessment strategies work in which situations. The Assessment, Evaluation, and Curriculum Redesign workshop offers successful formats and tactics to help participants evaluate their students' learning more effectively.

Constructivism as a Paradigm for Teaching and Learning
Synopsis - Constructivism is based on the idea that a child "constructs" her or his understanding of the world through experiences, interactions with objects and interactions with other people. This workshop explores how educators can use this idea in the classroom by developing collaborative activities, lessons that involve situations directly related to the learner's life, and student-motivated projects. In this workshop, participants study the theory of constructivism in detail and discover why so many educators have decided to use constructivist strategies in their classrooms. The workshop presents practical strategies, educational tools, and resources so participants can realistically begin implementing constructivism.

Cooperative and Collaborative Learning
Synopsis - Cooperative and Collaborative Learning are teaching strategies that focus on the educative potential of personal interaction. Participants of this workshop are introduced to major principles of cooperative learning, such as positive interdependence, social skills, individual accountability, task and role differentiation, and simultaneous interaction. Participants also learn how these principles can be integrated into classroom activities by working through relevant resources, discussion, and online projects.

Inquiry-based Learning
Synopsis - Inquiry-based Learning describes a process of educational discovery, wherein a student is guided to "see" issues, ask meaningful questions, and then decide how to answer those questions. This workshop offers discussions of the main components of Inquiry-based Learning, including: how knowledge is generated; how it is transmitted; and how experts, teachers, students, schools and homes contribute to a learner's knowledge. Through this workshop's discussions, project ideas, and sharing, participants discover the value of Inquiry-based Learning activities, which teach respect for one's own interests and the interests of others. The workshop concludes by challenging participants to create engaging Inquiry-based Learning projects in their own classrooms.

Interdisciplinary Learning in Your Classroom
Synopsis - Interdisciplinary Learning involves forming a curriculum around meaningful questions that connect multiple disciplines, in order to help students find transcendent themes and develop their higher-order thinking skills. In this workshop, participants will learn about the history of interdisciplinary learning, view examples of interdisciplinary learning in action, and engage in a seven-step process for designing an interdisciplinary unit. Participants will also discover for themselves the value of Interdisciplinary Learning and will examine the challenges of implementing it into classroom and school communities.

Making Family and Community Connections
Synopsis - Whenever there's talk about educating kids, attention is focused on the role of teachers. But what about the role of parents or guardians? Is the community a part of a child's education? Should the family and community be responsible for educating our children, too? How can a teacher get them involved in a child's education? This workshop will discuss strategies, present guidelines, and provide resources to help teachers bring the students' families and community into the school structure. Teachers will learn to make their classroom a bridge to a learning community.

Tapping into Multiple Intelligences
Synopsis - In 1983, Howard Gardner challenged the conventional view of intelligence with his book, FRAMES OF MIND. In this book, Gardner suggested seven types of intelligence: Linguistic Intelligence, Musical Intelligence, Logical-Mathematical Intelligence, Spatial Intelligence, Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence, and what are known as the intrapersonal and interpersonal forms of the Personal Intelligences. (He has recently added two more: Naturalistic Intelligence and Existential Intelligence). This workshop will examine the importance of reaching learners by appealing to their multiple intelligences. Participants will read about the theory in detail and look at examples of classroom teaching strategies that engage more than one intelligence. Through comparisons, tips, and discourse, participants learn to develop and adapt teaching strategies that will help them reach the varied minds in their classrooms.

Teaching to Academic Standards
Synopsis - It seems that every time a teacher has finally arranged time, space, and teaching methods to facilitate effective learning in the classroom, another regulation is handed down. And often it has to do with standards. Teaching and learning standards have been developed to assure better teaching and learning -- but what do they really mean? What are the implications of academic standards and how does one implement them efficiently and effectively? This workshop covers critical issues in teaching to academic standards and making them work in the classroom. It also offers demonstrations and discussions that provide helpful hints for implementing standards, and guides teachers to design a curriculum that is effective, efficient and standard-aligned.

WebQuests
Synopsis - First initiated in 1995 by Bernie Dodge, a professor at San Diego State University , WebQuests quickly became the buzz of Web-savvy classrooms. Why? Because WebQuests are wonderful teaching strategies that prompt students to ask questions, focus on "using information rather than searching for it," and look at material critically. Plus, it's time efficient and integrates the Internet into the classroom. Participants of this workshop will learn what makes a successful WebQuest in the classroom and how to build a WebQuest for optimum learning.

Why the Net? An Interactive Tool for the Classroom
Synopsis - This workshop is for educators who want to learn what the Internet can do for learning and how it can be successfully used in the classroom. There's a lot of talk about using the Internet in education because it allows broad access to information and is interactive, but just as with any tool, if the user doesn't know how to use it well, it's not a very good tool for that user. What are some of the pitfalls to avoid when bringing the Net into the classroom? What are some of the success stories that involve the Internet in learning activities? How does the use of Internet-enhanced curricula facilitate student learning? This workshop presents participants with Internet resources, evaluation criteria, and practical ideas on how to utilize the Internet in the classroom.

Science
CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN BIOLOGY
(CPE#220501, Texas Christian University , School of Education)
There has never been a more exciting yet challenging time to teach science, particularly biological science. Each day our newspapers and newsmagazines contain extraordinary new discoveries in biological science. The challenge for biology teachers is to keep up with these exciting discoveries and to bring this excitement into their classrooms.

This module was developed by Dr. Ray Drenner (Biology Department) and Dr. Molly Weinburgh ( School of Education ) at Texas Christian University and is based on a course designed and implemented for non-biology majors in 1999. Funds for the development and dissemination of Contemporary Issues in Biology: A Module for Teacher Training were provided by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Texas Education Agency.

Science
Texas Environmental Education Advisory Committee (TEEAC)
(CPE# 500196, Texas Education Agency, Environmental Education Advisory Council)
The Texas Environmental Education Advisory Committee (TEEAC) coordinates with other state agencies that are charged with the development of environmental education materials. TEEAC cooperates with a network of 120 providers of environmental education professional development, including universities, industry, museums and nature centers. This network of TEEAC Sites and Programs helps assure that teacher professional development offered by formal and non-formal providers is educationally sound and consistent with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).
To receive a TEEAC Certificate of Recognition, teachers and other educators take approved workshops at TEEAC Sites. At the completion of the workshop, they receive stickers, which are placed on a Coursework Verification Form. When 45 hours of stickers are recorded on the Coursework Verification Form, it is sent in to Irene Pickhardt, Texas Education Agency, 1701 North Congress, Austin , Texas 78701 .
Check this list of TEEAC Workshops or contact the site directly for current workshop information.

Reading
(CPE# 500657, University of Texas - Austin , Center for Reading and Language Arts)

Online professional development provides exciting opportunities for educators to learn more about scientifically-based reading research, communicate with other educators about reading, and ask questions of reading specialists. The Vaughn Gross Center currently hosts four online resources.

Technology Applications
(CPE# 500136, TEA)

This website contains resources that can be used by staff development personnel to train district staff in the successful integration of technology in the classroom. This website addresses three areas: 1) instructional practices for teaching the high school technology applications course, 2) strategies for integrating technology into core content areas (math, science, social studies, and language arts), 3) teaching the technology applications TEKS in the K-8 curriculum.